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PeetPeter's avatar
PeetPeter
2 years ago
Solved

Steam re-downloads DLCs after switching Windows-Accounts

Hello Sims4 Community, I own The Sims4 on Steam and have a lot of the DLCs from Steam on my account. My daughter now wants to use the same PC, so I gave her a Windowsaccount. We are using Steam Fami...
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  • PeetPeter's avatar
    PeetPeter
    2 years ago

    I think I sorted it out. I checked if the files were really missing and that was the case, so Steam was really redownloading the DLCs. I then tried different things an what I think solved the issue was, that I unlinked my daughters EA and Steam Account and then I "purchased" the basegame for her in the EA App. The EA App then detected my Sims4 installation in the Steam-Folder, which I could not start from the EA Client, but I also could not download the EA Version. I tried that because I thought that she could run Sims from the EA App and me from Steam. So as that did not worked, I started the Game from Steam on her account and the Apps reregistered her Accounts as linked and since then I did not have the problem anymore. We could both play and nothing gets downloaded between session. It took me two days and some hair pulling to figure that out, but as long as it is now working it is fine for me.

    Thanks, Peter.

puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
2 years ago

@PeetPeter  Just to be sure, does this happen if your daughter never opens Steam, only the EA App, when she plays Sims 4?  Is Steam running in the background?  If Steam isn't open at all, it's pretty clearly an EA App issue.  If you're not sure, please do test.  And please also let me know whether the packs are in fact downloading again, or Steam is simply re-verifying them.

I'd also like to know whether the packs' folders disappear entirely.  Unless you changed the default install location in Steam, the folders would be here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims 4

Each pack has its own folder, labeled by type and release date, e.g. Seasons was the fifth expansion released, so its folder is EP05.

The EA App has a lot of problems right now, and I'm not sure this would be a priority to fix.  But there's a workaround if you're interested: rename the Sims 4 folder that contains the game's program files before your daughter wants to play.  Then you'd need to install a second copy of the base game for her, and rename that install's folder when you want to play again.  It might be a hassle, but probably less than redownloading everything or setting up a dual-boot system.

When renaming these folders, you'd first need to make sure the EA App was closed and the EABackgroundService was not running in the Task Manager.

PeetPeter's avatar
PeetPeter
2 years ago

I think I sorted it out. I checked if the files were really missing and that was the case, so Steam was really redownloading the DLCs. I then tried different things an what I think solved the issue was, that I unlinked my daughters EA and Steam Account and then I "purchased" the basegame for her in the EA App. The EA App then detected my Sims4 installation in the Steam-Folder, which I could not start from the EA Client, but I also could not download the EA Version. I tried that because I thought that she could run Sims from the EA App and me from Steam. So as that did not worked, I started the Game from Steam on her account and the Apps reregistered her Accounts as linked and since then I did not have the problem anymore. We could both play and nothing gets downloaded between session. It took me two days and some hair pulling to figure that out, but as long as it is now working it is fine for me.

Thanks, Peter.

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